|
Vinokourov, one of the most famous Kazakh athletes, won
stages at most major races and the gold medal at the London
Olympics but he also served a two-year ban after testing
positive for blood doping at the 2007 Tour de France.
"Alexander Vinokourov resigned as bid ambassador, he was only
part of the application phase," a bid official said in a
statement.
Almaty bid vice-chairman Andrey Kryukov said recently that
Vinokourov would stay on as ambassador after fielding questions
during the International Olympic Committee's visit to evaluate
the bid regarding his doping offences.
Sources said IOC officials had not been happy he was chosen as a
bid ambassador given their organization's "zero tolerance"
policy on doping and drug cheats.
Almaty and Beijing are the only two candidates for the 2022
winter Games after four other cities dropped out due to
financial concerns and a lack of local support for the project.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
